Police says the terrorists shot at three civilians at Karfali Mohalla on Friday morning
Terrorists killed two National Conference workers including the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of MLA Habba Kadal and injured another in Srinagar on Friday, three days ahead of the first phase of municipal polls.
The killings came despite NC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) boycotting the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir over the Article 35 A issue. The four phase municipal polls will be starting from Monday.
Police said the terrorists shot at three civilians at Karfali Mohalla on Friday morning. The injured were taken to a hospital where two of them — Nazir Ahmad Bhat and Mushtaq Ahmad — succumbed. The condition of another injured civilian Shakeel Ahmad is stable now, hospital authorities said.
A native of Chotta Bazaar, Bhat was a former terrorist, who had joined the NC after he was released from jail. "It is a well planned conspiracy to kill Nazir because he was our backbone. He had gone to buy meat when he was shot. Mushtaq too was working with us but he was not holding any position," former chairperson of J&K State Women Commission Shameema Firdous told DNA.
The killings instilled fear with a woman candidate from Srinagar withdrawing her nomination from Srinagar Municipal Corporation. Another candidate from Anchidora-Anantnag posted a video announcing his resignation.
Vidhi Kumar Birdi, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Kashmir Range, told DNA that the trio were sitting inside a shop when the terrorists fired at them this morning. "They were sitting in a mutton shop when somebody came and fired at them and ran away. Two people were killed and another was injured," he said.
Security forces immediately launched a search operation, but the terrorists had managed to escape from the area. Police have started investigating and efforts are on to identify those responsible for the incident.
Eyewitness said the incident occurred at 11.25 am when motorbike-borne terrorists alighted near the mutton shop and fired indiscriminately. Shop owner Shakeel Ahmad also sustained injuries.
The killing has evoked sharp reaction from political parties cutting across ideological and political divide. "I cannot condemn strongly enough the murderous terrorist attack against three of my party workers. Nazir Ahmed Bhat (working in the office of MLA Shamima Firdous) & Mushtaq Ahmed Wani have been killed. Allah Jannat Naseeb Karey", tweeted Omar Abdullah, NC vice president and former J&K chief minister.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti too condemned the killing of the NC workers. "Pained to hear about the killing of two NC workers. My heart goes out to their families & children. Cannot possibly imagine what they must be going through," she tweeted.
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